This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on patent application Ser. No. 2003-013219 filed in Japan on Jan. 22, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club head having a shiny coating film.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, golf club heads such as metal heads are often coated to improve their appearance, and in general a color coating material containing a color pigment or a metallic coating material is used. Moreover, to further improve the appearance, for example a polarizing coating material containing a polarizing material, and a color clear coating material through which can be seen the metal surface of a metal head substrate have been used (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-325868).
With coating using a color coating material or metallic coating material, there are no problems with the ease of coating or the durability. However, regarding the external appearance of coated heads, there is a problem that there may not be an impression of the coating film being thick, or there may be a heavy feeling and hence there may not be a luxurious impression, and hence such coated heads are not favored by mid level and top level golf players in particular. To eliminate this problem, coating is carried out using a polarizing coating material containing a pearl pigment or the like, but it has not been possible to sufficiently achieve an external appearance giving an impression that the coating is thick.
Moreover, with color clear coating in which the metal surface of the head substrate can be seen through the coating, reflected light from the metal surface can be seen, and hence an impression of the coating being thick can be attained, and moreover the appearance is very attractive due to their being a metallic luster. However, to bring out the metallic luster, it is necessary to polish the surface of the head substrate to a mirror finish or a satin finish, and hence the roughness of the surface is reduced, and as a result adhesion of the coating film to the surface becomes poor. Furthermore, cavities are prone to occurring in the surface of a metal head manufactured by casting in particular, and with color clear coating, these cavities can be seen, and hence there has been a problem that it has been necessary to go to the trouble of carrying out surface preparation to conceal the cavities.
In view of the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a golf club head according to which a coating film that has a suitable degree of shininess and gives an impression of thickness can be formed, and hence the golf club head has an excellent external appearance with a luxurious impression, and moreover the adhesion of the coating film is excellent.